Duty free worker guilty of sex crimes against girls

An airport worker has been convicted of a series of sex crimes against seven teenage girls, including three rapes.

Bradley Booth was a teenager when he targeted his victims in Edinburgh and East Lothian between 2016 and 2019.

Booth, now 21, of Edinburgh, was found guilty of 11 charges and will be sentenced next month.

The judge at the High Court in Edinburgh told jurors it had been "a rather distressing case".

Lord Tyre requested a background report on the first offender ahead of sentencing.

But he warned Booth that, given the seriousness of the offences, it was "extremely unlikely" it would be anything but imprisonment.

The duty free worker was on bail during his trial but was remanded in custody following the verdict.

The court heard his first victim was a 13-year-old who he attacked in the Niddrie area of Edinburgh in 2016.

The girl had been drinking and found herself alone with Booth when he molested her.

He committed his first rape the following year when he attacked a 14-year-old girl at a house in the Niddrie area.

Booth also sent sexual communications to another 14-year-old in Edinburgh between March 2017 and March 2018 and twice had sex with the child.

The jury was told he admitted being in contact with another 15-year-old girl and claimed that he visited her home in Haddington after she told him she had "a free house".

But the girl said she was pinned down and raped by him during the visit in March 2018.

The girl later spoke to her sister who urged her to report it to the police.

The predator was also convicted of having underage sex with another 14-year-old girl at a house in Edinburgh between 20 May and 30 June 2018.

He also indecently communicated with a girl aged under 16 at addresses in Edinburgh between February 2017 and June 2019 by sending her explicit pictures on Snapchat and asking her to send him sexual images of herself.

His final victim was a 15-year-old he had contacted by text and Snapchat and asked her to send sexual images.

Booth had sex with the underage girl but then raped her after she said no to him.

He claimed he thought she was 16 or 17 from how she appeared on social media.

He was placed on the sex offenders register.